This study investigates the feasibility of using an Al-Si eutectic alloy as a reactive fuel in energetic mixtures. Al-Si eutectic alloy powders were obtained from secondary resources and ground to a particle size of less than 100 μm. We examined these powders’ burning characteristics and thermal properties compared to pure Al powder. Results showed that the burning rate of energetic mixtures containing Al-Si eutectic alloys was 1.5 to 2.0 mm/s higher than those with pure Al. Additionally, the activation energy of pure PTFE was reduced from 81.29 kJ/mol to 61.75 kJ/mol when the Al-Si alloy was added. The formation of oxides, carbides, and fluorides in the combustion products of Al-Si-based mixtures significantly influenced their thermodynamics.

Mining and metallurgical wastes contain reactive Fe-, Al-, Ca-, Mg-, and Mn-bearing phases. These phases can be used for water treatment. Their performance depends on mineral accessibility, processing history, and water chemistry rather than waste identity alone. This review compares tailings, slags, red mud, and leaching residues for inorganic and organic contaminant removal, focusing on mechanisms, modification intensity, and validation. Cations are removed by ion exchange, surface complexation, and precipitation, whereas anion removal relies on Fe/Al sites, Ca-mediated mineral formation, and redox reactions. Organic treatment proceeds through adsorption or catalytic transformation and generally requires activation or additional functional phases. Red mud and blast-furnace slag showed the broadest applicability across both pollutant classes, although no unchanged formulation was validated for both. Under favorable conditions, waste-derived sorbents can achieve pollutant-removal efficiencies approaching 100% in synthetic solutions. However, their performance generally decreases in real wastewater and under continuous or cyclic operating conditions, with reported efficiency losses reaching approximately 25 percentage points. Deployment and machine-learning-assisted selection require application-matched processing, real-water and static/dynamic validation, and standardized reporting of separation, regeneration, cyclic stability, mass loss, secondary leaching, and spent-material fate.

Mining and metallurgical wastes contain potentially valuable mineral resources but pose growing environmental risks. This review proposes a mineralogy-guided framework for converting these wastes into low-carbon binders and construction materials. Rather than classifying residues by origin or bulk oxide composition, it distinguishes them according to the reaction roles of their mineral phases. The framework first distinguishes self-sufficient systems, in which activation unlocks the intrinsic mineral inventory of the waste sufficiently for matrix or product formation, from mineralogically compensated systems, in which additional functional mineral solids are required to supply deficient reactive Si, Al, Ca, sulfate, alkalinity, or other phase-forming components. Binary and multicomponent formulations are then interpreted according to the specific mineralogical functions supplied by the complementary solids and the resulting changes in reaction pathways and products. Thermal, hydrothermal, mechanochemical, alkaline, and carbonation-based processing routes are compared in relation to phase composition, co-precursor function, and the mechanical, thermal, and service properties of concretes, foams, and backfill materials. Evidence indicates that performance depends more on chemical complementarity than on maximizing waste content. Environmental benefits must also account for contaminant immobilization, carbon dioxide binding, and the energy and reagent demand of pretreatment. Mineralogy-informed machine-learning models may support inverse mixture design, but their transferability remains constrained by feedstock heterogeneity and limited standardized data. The framework links mineralogy, processing, reaction products, performance, and scale-up.